I sent Mr. Rives to Paris and told him not to leave until he
had seen these officers. He remained in Paris some weeks and
finally through Mr. Sharp obtained permission to visit the officers
in the military prison. Later the French showed a tendency to
be lenient in this case, but it was hard to find a way for the
French Government to back down gracefully. Schierstaedt having
become insane in the meantime, a very clever way out of the
difficulty was suggested, I believe by Mr. Sharp. Schierstaedt
having been found to be insane was presumably insane at the time
of the patrol's wandering in the forest of Fontainebleau. As he
was the senior officer, the other officer and the men under him
were not responsible for obeying his commands. The result was
that Schwerin and the men of the patrol were put in a regular
prison camp and Schierstaedt was very kindly sent by the French
back to Germany, where he recovered his reason sufficiently to
be able to come and thank me for the efforts made on his behalf.
I made every endeavour so far as it lay in my power to oblige
the Germans.
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